Inadequate

How to spell inadequate

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce inadequate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does inadequate mean?

1. adjectiveNot enough in quantity, quality, or ability to meet a need or standard.

Inadequate in a sentence

• The report was rejected because the supporting data was inadequate.

• Funding for the new hospital wing remains entirely inadequate.

Where does inadequate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin adjective adaequatus, the past participle of adaequare, which meant 'to make equal to' or 'to level with', built from ad ('to, toward') and aequus ('equal, even, fair'). The form 'adequate' entered English in the early 1600s with the sense of being equal to a requirement or fully sufficient for a need. To turn it negative, English added the native Latin-derived prefix in-, meaning simply 'not', producing 'inadequate' to describe anything that falls short of what is required. The same aequus root quietly underpins a whole family of common English words such as 'equal', 'equator', and 'equity', all carrying the idea of evenness or balance. The spelling trap lies in that buried 'a' after the 'ad', a quiet unstressed vowel (in-AD-uh-kwit) that writers often skip or muddle, alongside the slightly counterintuitive 'qu' standing in for the 'kw' sound.

How the word is built

• in- (not)
• ad- (to/toward)
• aequ- (from aequus: equal, even)
• -ate (adjective suffix)